ELON — Whether Davidson served as a model for Elon University during its Division I infancy, it often looked that way.

Davidson is a private school in North Carolina, a college making a name for itself in basketball.

The frequently suggested perception is that Elon was trying to follow Davidson’s lead. That was enhanced when Elon joined the Southern Conference, where Davidson had been a long-time member.

Then a few years ago, Elon hired a Davidson assistant coach to direct its men’s basketball program.

Elon president Leo Lambert said the comparisons to Davidson might be overstated, but it begged another question when Elon announced Thursday that it’s headed to the Colonial Athletic Association in about 13 months.

Just who among the collection of CAA school is most like Elon?

To that, it looks like it might be Hofstra, in Lambert’s estimation using an academic profile and university mission. It could be William & Mary as well, he said.

Yet Davidson has a piece in all this.

After all, Davidson’s announced departure this spring from the Southern Conference preceded Elon’s decision, another dagger for a league that already had lost a chunk of its football luster.

“We were very concerned about Davidson College looking at other options as well,” Lambert said.

This time, Elon is taking a different path. Davidson chose the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Elon’s association in the CAA will be something that’s molded across time, commissioner Tom Yeager said. There’s time for Elon’s identity to evolve.

Yeager spoke of the CAA’s interest in Elon’s trajectory, “not as much about 2013, but about 2025.”

During the assessment process, Lambert said he communicated regularly with Davidson president Carol Quillen, conversations that he described as evaluating the landscape of conference alignments.

He also categorized Elon and Davidson with significant differences in makeup.

Yet he wasn’t hesitant to note common ground with Hofstra, a school in Hempstead, N.Y. (on Long Island).

“Elon looks very much like Hofstra,” Lambert said. “There’s a fair North / South comparison.”

In other aspects, such as size and general similarities, comparisons to William & Mary might work best, Lambert said.

Across time, we might better see how Elon stacks up with Hofstra and William & Mary, both academically and athletically.

Those notions to hook Elon on the same rung as Davidson might fade as they go their separate ways.

“My experience for 21 years has been in the Southern Conference,” said Elon men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny, a former Davidson football and basketball player. “This is a day of change. This is about the university and it’s a very complex decision. I’m excited because I have great faith in our leadership.”

In the meantime, Elon and Davidson won’t break ties right away.

“We do have one more year of competition with them,” Matheny said.

So while a glimpse into the future was the theme Thursday, there’s other more immediate business taking place for coaches and players on the Elon campus.

“Our focus is on the Southern Conference right now,” men’s soccer coach Darren Powell said, with championship hardware from that league sitting behind him in his office. “As a coach, that’s how we’re thinking. Once we’re through with that, then we’ll look at this.”